17 Minutes With Leah Labelle

When Pharrell stopped by the Seventeen offices and told us that he discovered music's next "It" girl, we paid attention. Find out what we learned about the super-talented Bulgarian singer, then check out the music video for her single, "Sexify"!

Seventeen: A little bird told us that you come from a pretty spectacular musical family. Tell us about your parents.

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Leah Labelle: I am a first generation American and my family is from Bulgaria. My parents are actually very famous singers in Bulgaria. My dad was in a rock band and my mom was in a pop group. They met, fell in love, and actually formed a group together to escape the country because it was Communist and they couldn't leave. They didn't know any English, but eventually found their way to America. It's a crazy story.

17: How have your parents influenced you as a musician?

LL: I grew up seeing my parents perform and sing, and I just always wanted to be singing, too. Music has always been my deepest passion and what I felt most connected to. When I was seven, I saw Sister Act 2 and I fell in love with the performing aspect of music. Then, I started doing YouTube videos and that's how Pharrell discovered me. He watched my videos for two years before actually reaching out to me.

17: What other kinds of opportunities did you land through your YouTube videos?

17: What can you tell Seventeen readers who are recording themselves in their rooms, hoping to be discovered?

LL: There's no specific formula, and I worked really hard. I literally made YouTube videos when I was on the road, in my hotel rooms, on tours at night. But my main focus was never YouTube. It was recording music in the studio.

17: What inspired your first single, "Sexify?"

LL: Basically, I looked at magazines and took the headlines and articles that stood out to me the most and put them in a song to represent the fun, sexy women of today.

17: What's the vibe of the whole album?

LL: It has a very fun essence to it—it has feel-good music, it makes you want to dance and enjoy life. Everything has a very positive element, but then there's a lot of substance to the record lyrically—everything has a story. It has a fun throwback feel to it.

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